Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. World maps distort size and shape by design. Learn why projections matter and how they shape global understanding. (CREDIT: ...

Greenland appears much larger than it actually is on most world maps, thanks to the Mercator projection, a centuries-old map style. A recent study reveals how this distortion influences our perception ...

When people look at a world map on a classroom wall or on their phone, one of the first things they notice is how huge Greenland looks. On many common maps, Greenland appears to be nearly as large as ...

However, because all flat maps have compromises built into them, they represent both reality and distortion. When looking at a rectangular world map, you see an illustrated view of Earth, the surface ...